Dramatics make College World Series worth watching

Quickness has never been my hallmark. Not athletically — I was two steps slow on the basketball court and couldn't handle an inside fastball. Not personally — I didn't marry until age 51 and clung to dial-up Internet and my flip phone nearly as long.

So it's no surprise that I've been slow to join the growing legions hooked on college baseball, specifically the sport's postseason.

As usual, my wife was light years ahead of me on this. Attending the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., ranks high on her bucket list, and she'll watch random conference or NCAA tournament games, even when unfamiliar with the teams.

April, May and June still offer spring football, playoff hockey and hoops, pro drafts, conference meetings and 24/7 recruiting news. But amid that clamor, college baseball merits a look.

Eight teams gather in Omaha later this week, where the CWS can only hope to approach the past month's tension, much of it in our region.

Most locally, William and Mary earned only the third NCAA tournament bid in program history, and in the Raleigh Regional, exceptional pitching from Jason Inghram and Brett Koehler lifted the Tribe to a pair of victories over Mississippi.

Keep in mind, the Rebels hail from the Southeastern Conference, which has produced multiple CWS teams six consecutive years and nine national champions since 1990.

But as stifling as W&M's pitching was, it couldn't match host North Carolina State's. The Wolfpack defeated the Tribe 1-0 and 9-2, the first win courtesy of sophomore left-hander Carlos Rodon's complete-game two-hitter.

Rodon and N.C. State have been center stage since a 2-1 ACC tournament loss to North Carolina.

Such pitching duels usually breeze by in about two hours. This went 18 innings, more than six hours and ended at 1:51 a.m. Rodon pitched the first 10 innings, allowing one hit and an unearned run while striking out 14 and walking two.

Yes, my 21-month-old arises around 5 a.m. But I couldn't stop watching as threat after excruciating threat went unrealized until Cody Stubbs' bloop single plated the Tar Heels' decisive run.

Rodon stood to lose Game 1 of the super regional against Rice, but the Wolfpack scored two in the bottom of the ninth to win 4-3. The next evening, State needed 17 innings and more than seven hours — rain delayed the game 77 minutes in the 12th inning — to eliminate Rice, 5-4, and reach its first College World Series since 1968.

At least one ACC rival wasn't surprised. When the Wolfpack wasn't among the NCAA tournament's eight national seeds, Virginia Tech coach Pete Hughes tweeted: "Bad call leaving NCST out of top 8 @NCStateBaseball will be in Omaha. One of the most underrated coaches in the country. #hokiePerspective."

And whom will State and 17th-year coach Elliott Avent encounter Sunday in Omaha? North Carolina, of course, the Tar Heels having survived a three-game super regional against South Carolina.

In the ACC tournament, the Tar Heels bested Clemson in 14 innings, N.C. State in 18 and Virginia Tech in the title game. But for the eventual No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tournament, those games carried little big-picture heft.

A regional championship game one week later against Florida Atlantic was heftier than William Howard Taft in his prime. North Carolina scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings, three in the 12th to forge another tie and one in the 13th to win 12-11, Stubbs providing the walk-off single at 1:04 a.m.

Given those theatrics, Tuesday's come-from-behind, 5-4 conquest of South Carolina to reach the CWS was tame.

Not to ignore others. Mississippi State and Indiana authored surprising super regional road sweeps of Virginia and Florida State, respectively, the Hoosiers becoming the first Big Ten team to reach Omaha since Michigan in 1984.

Virginia Tech hosted its first NCAA regional and won two games before a season-ending loss to Oklahoma. Liberty upset Clemson twice in the Columbia Regional but could not overcome host South Carolina.

Perhaps most remarkably, Louisville swept host Vanderbilt in a super regional to continue an unprecedented 2012-13 for the school that includes a Sugar Bowl upset of Florida, the women's basketball Final Four and the men's basketball national championship.

So the College World Series convenes with Louisville, Indiana, North Carolina, N.C. State, UCLA, LSU, Oregon State and Mississippi State. The annoying ping of aluminum and the chance of 1 a.m. finishes notwithstanding, check it out.

David Teel can be reached at 757-247-4636 or by email at dteel@dailypress.com. For more from Teel, read his blog at dailypress.com/ teeltime and follow him at twitter.com/DavidTeelatDP

Standing alone in the raindrops Monday with a bat by his side, Scott Silverstein kicked water from the pitching rubber atop the mound at Davenport Field. His college career had just ended a little more than an hour earlier in Virginia’s 6-5 super-regional loss to Mississippi State.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Nearly half of Virginia's baseball victories this season came on the strength of comebacks. For a few minutes Monday, it appeared as if U.Va.'s most dramatic rally would come at the most critical moment of the season to date, but Mississippi State wasn't having it.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Virginia pitched superbly in sweeping three games at last weekend's NCAA tournament regional. The opponents, however, were Elon and Army. No offense to the Phoenix or Cadets, but top-25 clubs they were not.

CHARLOTTESVILLE – Though Mississippi State showed no signs of distraction Saturday, banging out 20 hits in an 11-6 win at Virginia, several of Mississippi State's more prominent players understandably had their heads elsewhere just a day earlier.

CHARLOTTESVILLE — Virginia's baseball team ranks fourth nationally in scoring and 11th in batting average. Yet in their first two NCAA tournament games, the Cavaliers scored a paltry four runs combined and hit a pedestrian .277.

Buffalo has become the third Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision) school to offer a scholarship to Lafayette High junior Cheyton Pine. Lafayette coach Andy Linn said Pine is being recruited as an outside linebacker.